Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Friday that the people of the state have rejected those who were against development, as the Mahayuti swept the 2026 municipal corporation elections. Thanking the people for giving a clear mandate to the Mahayuti, comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the deputy chief minister said the alliance will speed up the development work in the state.
Speaking at a press conference in Thane, the Shiv Sena supremo also lauded the Mahayuti's performance in Mumbai and said that India's financial capital will get a mayor from the alliance this time. He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his remarks.
"Over the past three and a half years, our alliance government has worked for the development of the city of Mumbai. Whenever the prime minister visits Mumbai, he has said that Mumbai should become an international city. We will make Mumbai pothole-free and corruption-free. We will upgrade Balasaheb Thackeray Aapla Dawakhana," Shinde said.
Mahayuti's big win in Maharashtra civic body polls
However, the biggest win for the Mahayuti was in Mumbai, where it has wrested power from the Shiv Sena (UBT). The Thackeray brothers had formed an alliance for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, but their coalition failed to stop the Mahayuti juggernaut. According to the latest data provided by the SEC, the BJP and the Shiv Sena won 85 and 25 seats, respectively. The Shiv Sena (UBT) and the MNS won 60 and five seats, respectively. The Congress won 19, the NCP two, the NCP (SP) one, and others seven seats.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has been witnessing a series of desertions since the 2022 split in the undivided Shiv Sena. More than half of the 84 BMC corporators of the undivided Shiv Sena elected in 2017 switched to the party led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, significantly eroding the support base of Uddhav Thackeray.
The MNS, which won seven seats in the 2017 civic body polls, was reduced to just corporator as six switched loyalties and joined the undivided Shiv Sena. The MNS leader, however, pointed out that the Raj Thackeray-led party was on the backfoot ever since seat-sharing talks with the Shiv Sena (UBT) began.
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